Daily Reading: Mark 12:13-17
The religious authorities were lying when they spoke to Jesus. The words they spoke were not a true reflection of the reality they claimed to be representing, because they did not truly believe what they claimed to believe. They said, “Teacher we know you are a man of integrity,” but, in fact, they did not believe and “know” this at all. They were simply attempting to set Him up and manipulate Him. As disciples of Jesus, we need to guard our hearts and lives against ever using our words to misrepresent the truth about ourselves or our beliefs.
On the other hand, the statements they made about Jesus were true in the most wonderful way. While their words did not accurately represent the truth about their own beliefs, they did accurately represent the truth about Jesus.
By contrast to the deceptive and manipulative religious leaders, their own description of Jesus in v.14 helps us to see how to live by the value of Truth: “They came to Him and said, ‘Teacher, we know that you are a man of integrity. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are; but you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth’”.
To be a person of integrity is to live by the value of truth. It means to act and speak in a way that aligns with what we believe is true about God, the world, and others – without fear or favour. May the Lord of Truth give us grace to do so today.
Lord Jesus, You are perfect Truth and perfect Integrity. You perfectly represented the truth about Yourself (God the Son) and about our Heavenly Father God in everything you did and said. Help us, by Your Spirit of Truth, to do the same. Help us to resist the temptation to twist the truth in order to cast ourselves in a better light, or to gain an advantage over someone else. We are truly sorry for doing so in the past, and pray for the grace to be people of Truth today. Amen.
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